


People who care

by FrankiValerie



Series: After Omega [4]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-13
Updated: 2016-07-13
Packaged: 2018-07-23 18:37:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7475454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrankiValerie/pseuds/FrankiValerie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caleb is a character created by @Tortuga_rebel on twitter, and he has given me permission to write and post.</p><p>Draft - Again this needs to get out of my way... Furiously writing this week to escape from work and get rid of some stress so do excuse typos and the rushed filler parts.  This will... probably not get revisited since it's not all that popular, but its here now anyway.  More to come over the next couple days/weeks.  </p><p>I'm trying to show the story from multiple points of view so it gets a little confusing to write... there WILL be mistakes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	People who care

The closer they got to Alliance space and Grissom Academy, the more nervous Jack became. She could tell Caleb was getting annoyed by her constant pacing but it was the only way she could focus on blocking the thoughts like little bugs in her head.

Shepard would be pissed.  Kasumi would be heartbroken.  Vega would be there, giving her that look that would make her crumble.  Prangley would resent her after hearing what she’d done to her crew.  The cheerleader would be there to revel in her misery and probably give a lecture on how to be a better goddamn person.  There was even a particularly nasty thought that Vega would hurt Prangley to get back at Jack.  That one niggled and nagged under the others and was the hardest to block out.  If anyone were to touch her students… 

"Fuck, Jack, will you just sit the fuck down already?" Caleb protested. 

She could hardly hear him over the thoughts buzzing in her ears and grunted a request for him to speak up but wasn't listening for an answer. He watched her, scowling, sipping from bottle of beer. It was obvious she was miles away. She reached up to rub at her ear with her knuckles, then he noticed a few blue sparks trailing up and down her back, her biotics were flaring. Sure, she looked tense as fuck but not so stressed out she was unstable. 

He quirked a brow and lowered his beer, "You good, J?" 

She just kept pacing, now muttering to herself, her ear was turning red from the rough contact with her knuckles and the flickering blue sparks began to dance over her shoulders and around her waist. If she hadn’t been so tense he'd have sat back and enjoyed the show; she was a gorgeous woman and when her biotics shimmered over her skin she looked like a grounded Goddess. 

But she did look tense. And this wasn't a show. 

He put down his beer and rose, stepping into her path, taking her hand away from her head, and lifting her chin to look her in the eye. 

He saw the same glazed look as he'd seen when he caught her on the Citadel. She was thinking about the Tank. 

"Where's your head?" 

She closed her eyes for a moment and swallowed hard. 

" _He's_ gonna be there." She whispered. 

Caleb furrowed his brow and clenched his jaw, "Why?" 

The look of pain on Jack's face - the pain that fucking meat brain had caused her - was infuriating.

"Prangley hitched a ride on the Normandy back to the Academy. They'll arrive not long after us. The Cheerleader told me.

Now he felt the need to pace.

Instead he pulled her to his chest and squeezed her around the shoulders, watching her biotics die down again as she wrapped her arms loosely around his waist.

"I'll stay with you, J.  Until they’re gone.  I won’t let him hurt you."

"He'll hurt me just by being there... He has this look... that just..." she tensed and he felt, more than heard, her sob, "He'll see you and be hurt. Disappointed. It's that hurt look I can't stand. I feel so fucking... guilty"

"You've fuck all to feel guilty about, Jack, it's his own fucking fault for letting you walk away, and his fucking loss."

There was an uncomfortable knot in his chest and he cursed and screamed in his head. He'd like to find that fucking Marine pussy moron and punch some sense into him. Why the fuck would he want to let someone like Jack go? How could he tell her he loved her and then hurt her like this? 

He stood by her, and held her close, soothing her with gentle strokes down her back. 

The ship's comm buzzed into life and the voice of his pilot, Ajax, made her tense up again. "E.T.A 5 minutes, Grissom Academy in sight"

 

Vega had been sat on his workbench for hours.  He’d gone through such a range of emotions; anger, worry, loss, that now he was just numb.  He didn’t know what to do with himself.  He looked back on the messages he’d sent to Jack, wishing she’d send him something back.  Even if it was just a blank message, so he knew she’d read his messages – and was alive! 

He started at the omnitool interface, flexing his fingers to try and rid the pain in his knuckles from hitting that damn punching bag too fucking hard in his anger at seeing Jack with some rough looking nobody on the citadel - and she’d gone to Omega with the asshole.  When he overheard Miranda telling Shepard that Jack had gone, he’d described the man to Miranda to see if she knew anything – she’d read Jack’s files, maybe there was something in there.  She was definitely talking to the guy like she knew him.  Miranda had answered in a very vague and uninterested way that Jack had a history of getting involved with criminals, bounty hunters, even cultists and that she was a big girl who could handle herself.  James didn’t care to voice that it was painfully obvious Miranda was glad to see the back of Jack.  Instead he cursed under his breath and decided Liara may have been a better choice.  

Liara could immediately tell he was upset by the whole situation and happily offered to help.  Within a few seconds she had the video footage from citadel security on her screens and had identified the man with Jack as Caleb Ortez.  It was only another moment before the broker network computer had compiled a dossier on Ortez, and Liara allowed James to read it while she continued with something else on her data pad.  The more he read, the more he worried.  This guy was a loose cannon and left only death and destruction in his wake.  Vega was amazed that he had the nerve to show his face on the citadel after the record he had – surely this kind of criminal needed to be locked up? Murder, theft, arson, piracy and vandalism were just a few of Ortez’ long list of crimes.  Vega didn’t want that guy anywhere near Jack.  She was in danger if she was near him.  He didn’t want her ricocheting back into a life of crime just because of some break-up.  Not when there were so many people who cared for her now – including her students who still depended on her.

Among the information was an extranet address and James had wasted no time in sending Ortez a message;

“I saw you with Jack.  I know your history now, and I know the kind of scum you are.  That girl has people who love and depend on her – so stay the fuck away from her or I will hunt you down and put you in the ground, _pendejo_.  Count on it.”

He paced as he typed the message and sent it, then had gone to his punching bag and spent a little too long taking out his frustrations and imagining Ortez’ face on the bag. 

Cortez had yelled over to him a couple times, but Vega hadn’t the focus to hear what he was yelling, so had eventually come over to see James instead, who had begun to write another message to Jack. 

“James,” Steve address him with a concerned tone, “You alright?” 

Vega nodded and moved to stand, “Fine.  Whats up?” 

Steve didn’t look convinced but carried on anyway.    “We’re getting close to the Academy.  Shepard wants to you make sure the kid’s got everything ready and then wait for him on the shuttle.  He wants you to come.” 

Vega nodded again, “Jack gonna be there?” he asked, knowing Steve wouldn’t judge him for asking – they’d been friends long enough now. 

“Unconfirmed, but it’s Academy procedure that she be there.” Steve still held his concerned tone but didn’t ask any more questions and James thanked him silently for that.  He then looked over to where Prangley had been sat – on a crate at the back of the shuttle bay watching the crew work. 

“Yeah, _no_ _problemo_ , Esteban.” 

Vega went back to his OT when Cortez walked away and read over the message he’d prepared for Jack;

“Bella,” he figured he’d begin with a more familiar and personal name to soften the message and let her know it came from a caring place, “I’m sorry things didn’t work out.  I still care about you.  I always will, because I love you, and I will always love you.” He stared at those words in particular, an ache beginning to pulse in his chest as he read on, “You have people here Jack.  Not just me, other people who love you and who need you to be thinking straight.  You can’t hang around with _pendejos_  like Caleb Ortez – Liara showed me his records - he’s bed news, Bella.  You need to leave that life behind before your hurt yourself or the people who care about you the most.  You have kids who depend on you now, _niña_.  Think about them.”

He saved the message as a draft and closed the interface.  He’d say it to her face when they landed.  And if she wasn’t there, he’d send it.    

 

As Prangley's mentor, Jack had to be present when he got off the shuttle. Paper work, health and safety and Academy policies - all that shit.  Sanders was there too. Caleb had stayed, like he said he was going to, and stood behind Jack with a hand on her back for support.  She felt like she might topple over without him there. 

The shuttle landed, the door swung open and out jumped Jason Prangley. He beamed at the sight of Jack and made his way over. She smiled softly and nodded to him, glad he was safe.  Caleb felt her relax. 

"Jackie!" 

A slender hooded figure seemed to leap at Jack from nowhere. Her biotics flared up in response, but she laughed and hugged the black figure, patting her back as soon as she realised there was no threat.

"Hey Kas" She held the tiny girl close, her voice soft and kind, "You gotta stop scaring me like that, I might hurt you."

Caleb let a small smile creep onto his face, and looked back to the shuttle. The figure to clamber out next he recognised as Shepard.  He'd seen the face of Commander John Shepard plastered all over the galaxy, on posters, billboards and news reports; the hero of the Citadel, then savoir of humanity, and now the savoir of the fucking universe after he fired the catalyst and destroyed the reapers, ending the war.  

Fucking Boy Scout.  He didn’t look so special. 

He got distracted by the next person to emerge from the shuttle.

James Vega froze and took in the scene, glancing between Jack and Caleb before scowling. To anyone else he might have looked intimidating. 

"Jackie, please come home" Kasumi asked, softly. Caleb was glad of the little thief distracting Jack, knowing that look on Vega’s face would have hurt her. 

Jack sighed, "I can't Kas, I'm needed here." She didn’t let go of her friend’s hand. 

Kasumi scowled under her hood and leant in toward Jack, "If it's because of that Vega guy, we could have Javik throw him out the airlock, y'know." 

Jack laughed softly and pulled Kasumi back into a close hug, lowering her voice to a whisper even Caleb struggled to hear.  “That means a lot, baby girl.  Thanks.” 

Shepard approached next, Prangley walking in front of him, and nodded to Jack, who nodded back.  

“You alright, Jack?” he asked. 

Jack nodded to Prangley, “Thanks for bringing this one home.” 

Shepard eyed Caleb then smiled and nodded, then held out his hand for Caleb to shake.  

Then what could have easily been mistaken for a wrecking ball hit the side of Caleb's head. It caught him off guard and he stumbled, stunned, the impact causing a ringing in his ears, but it didn't take long for him to right himself and turned to face his attacker. 

Vega was less than half a foot away and was pulling his fist back for another punch. 

He wouldn't get the chance. 

Caleb dodged the hit and planted a punch of his own against Vega's clenched jaw, then another quick jab to the gut.

He backed off a little then, he clearly hadn't expected Caleb to fight back - or be that fast. 

Caleb grinned and licked his teeth, tasting blood, fists balled tight and at the ready, so glad that this overstuffed meat head had thrown the first punch. Caleb lunged forward and threw his fist at The Tank again, which he blocked, leaving Vega open to a right hook to the side of his face. He felt a satisfying crunch of bones under his knuckles, but was winded by a hit to the ribs and felt something break. 

There was a flash of biotic blue and the two men were pulled away from each other. Shepard stepped between them, looking both confused and angry.  Jack was standing behind, her fists encased in biotic energy. 

"What the hell?" Shepard shot at Vega who was snarling and glaring at Caleb; he had no intentions of listening to his commander. 

"I warned you to stay away from her!" He barked, pointing a stubby callous finger at Caleb. 

"Y'mean your little love note?” Caleb yelled back, “It was real fucking cute!" 

"I'm gonna tear your head off, _pendejo_!" 

"Come at me, you fuck, I'm ready for round two!" He let his biotics flow through his arm and ignite around his fists. The Tank didn't like that at all. 

"Both o’ you assholes better shut the fuck up before I tear your tongues out with my bare fucking hands!"  Jack had piped up and Vega turned his attention to her.

Caleb didn't move, he was ready to skin that asshole alive and Jack wouldn't be able to stop him.

 _'Give me a reason, you sack of shit’_ he thought, clenching his jaw so hard his teeth began to ache. 

"You've been with this guy the whole time, Jack? He's a fucking criminal! A no-good pirate! Worthless pi--"

Jack's fist slammed against Vega’s cheekbone and cut him off. 

Caleb grinned. She could throw one hell of a punch for such a slender figure. The Tank's look of surprise was priceless. 

"I told you to shut your fucking hole!" she shoved him, getting right up in his face. 

Vega opened his mouth to protest, but she just punched him again, this time, he stumbled backwards. 

The spectators had gone quiet, even Shepard, trusting Jack to handle things; she wouldn't disappoint. 

"Did you forget that I’m a criminal too?" She was stepping toward him and he was backing off, not looking scared but confused. Jack's energy was sparking over her skin and her rage was only amplified in her tone. 

"You forget the person you've tossed aside lately? Or did you ever know or care about who I was? No—who I AM." 

He was too shocked to respond, though his jaw flapped as if he wanted to answer her furious questions. She grabbed his shirt and yanked him to her level, snarling in his face, "Surprise fucking surprise, meat head, I can take care of myself. Don’t need some muscle-bound moron telling me where I can go or who my friends are!" 

She pushed him away and turned her back, fists clenched by her sides. 

Vega looked like he still wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words, nor the courage. 

Jack grunted a thank you to Shepard then stopped in front of Caleb looking him over.

"Prangley. Take Mr Ortez to the med wing." 

"I don't need-" Caleb started when Prangley nodded timidly but Jack jabbed her finger into his ribs and he winced, "Fuck! Alright!" He glanced at the Tank, "But not until he's back on that shuttle." 

Jack looked back to Shepard, he nodded, patted Jack on the shoulder, “don’t be a stranger, Jack.” And gestured for Vega to follow him back to the shuttle.  Vega still had his eyes on Jack, who wouldn’t look at him, and followed his Commander. 

Kasumi skipped over to Jack and hugged her tight again, kissing her cheek,

"Keep kicking ass, Jackie."

Jack finished saying her goodbyes curtly and then turned back to Caleb, "Go get checked. I’ll be there soon." 

He grumbled but eventually gave in, waiting until he had his back to her before letting a triumphant and proud smile stretch over his face.


End file.
